Rating: 
Summary: I want to scream!
Review: I was really fooled by this book. Please, before buying, take the following FACTS about this book into consideration, and note that these are NOT my opinions:1. The code in several chapters will not work due to syntax errors here and there. 2. The corrections can be downloaded from the site or gotten from the CD, BUT the source code is not the same as the book's. 3. You need an understanding of C++ (especially pointers, classes) before you can really understand Visual C++. There is a quick tutorial on the back however. These are some facts about the book. My two feelings towards this book are anger and frustration. At times I felt like screaming from anger. Besides being syntax errors, the book was hard to follow from a lack of clear explanations. At times, he's just shoving code down your mouth and not explaning the material. And if he explains something, it's usually something you understood already, or something irrelevant. In the beginning I didn't think the book was that bad. I thought Chapman was leaving stuff behind on his explanations but that he would retrack later on in the book and explain in detail what he missed. I was wrong! Also, I wished he had explained MFC a little better. At least one dedicated chapter on the basics. (There is a little section on the back... but again... lacks clarity.) Please be cautious when buying this book. The only thing you'll learn is using wizards. If you want to make applications not knowing what you're doing, and having a book on your lap to copy from, then be my guest.
Rating: 
Summary: But... is it good?
Review: At my present C++ programmers course, Sams Teach yourself Visual C++ in 21 days have been handed out to the students in lieu of days teaching us MFC. And that's not the purpose of the book, so I know my teachers and the course managers have made a bad choice. Yet it is a pretty ok book for a lot of my classmates, as they have very little real programming experience. The feeling of actually being able to create a program with the help of this book is very rewarding to a newbie. Most of the time, Davis Chapman actually manage to sneak in a bit of teaching while showing what to do. For a beginner, who likes to get his hands on the keyboard and do a few lines of code, this book is great. But for a more experienced programmer, such as myself, this book is not really the best choice. I've been frustrated by the lack of in-depth explanations and the illogical way some chapters have been build up. And the fact that there are a few errors, which would have been caught by presenting a student with the book and telling him/her to program each chapter as it was written and report back. Rating the book based on the fact that the book is great as a first introduction for a newbie would earn it 4 stars. If I was to rate it as a professional programmer, I would probably give it only 2 stars. So I ended up with the average - 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Not for beginners!
Review: This has been said before by some reviewers, but it is worth mentioning again: this book is NOT for beginners to C++ programming. If you are already knowledgable about C++, then the book will be OK. The author takes very little time to explain important concepts... it is possible (sort of) to figure things out by examining the examples (and then going to other books/online resources), but the purpose of a "Teach Yourself..." book is surely to remove the need for this? Why not just explain what you are doing, and more importantly, why? The overview of C++ in the back of the book is pretty much useless... it does a good job of explaing very simple C++ concepts, but doesn't deal with really important issues ( e.g. pointers/references/data structures) at all. These are absolutely crucial to understanding VC++. To use an anology, its like explaining the english alphabet (a, b, c....) and then telling your student to go write a novel. The thing which REALLY bugs me is that even if you manage to complete the book, your knowledge of VC++ is actually remarkably limited. If I ever need to create a simple drawing programme, I will be fine. But... ask me to do something more complicated and I will have no idea! This is a consequence of the fact that very little is actually explained properly. For example, the SDI chapter is not great, in my opinion... you make yet another drawing application, which doesn't do justice to the CONCEPT of SDI applications. Without previous programming experience you would be unable to make a non-drawing SDI application very easily! I have managed to progress quite far into the book... but only because I am relying heavily on other resources. The money I paid for this book would have been better spent on one of the "other resources" that I seem to be relying on so much!
Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners
Review: This book gets you to a point where you have some visual programs, but that's about all. there is very little info about the MFC class members in there. For more examples on MFC, I recommend "Programming windows with MFC" by Jeff Prosise.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book for learning Visual C++ 6!
Review: My search for a great book ended when I found this one. I needed to learn Visual C++ 6.0 fast because I was assigned to a project at work. I had no previous knowledge of the language. After finishing Visual C++ 6 in 21 days, I had an excellent start and began writing programs much faster than my co-workers did. A great book worth picking up!!
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible book, very hard to read.
Review: Thrown away money and time. Author is not trying to teach you, but train you like a dog.
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst, if not _the_ worst programming book ever..
Review: Hmmm, gosh, how do I say this.... PERHAPS THE WORST BOOK ON PROGRAMMING I'VE EVER READ (and I've read > 100). I couldn't agree more with 50% of the other reviewers of this book when they say it spoon-feeds you code without explaining it adequately at all. But what's even more maddening is that the author will spend a whole 2 paragraphs explaining simple C concepts, while totally avoiding explanations on the hard C++ parts. For example, on page 214 of my edition, the author uses the 'delete' operator of the CObject class, without ever explaining what it is. Having lots of C knowledge but only some C++ experience, I wasted a lot of time before it dawned on me what how this sample program could compile! The book is full of similar poorly explained examples. I am currently on Day 12, and am forcing myself to slug on, with much trepidation, but I may just switch to another book soon. I will be avoiding books by this author in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute lack of explainations
Review: I am using this book as a basis for an online programming course in c++. Unfortunately, this book gives the reader some sample projects to type in and try, but explains very poorly or not at all what each function does or how it interacts with other functions. I guess it gives a whole new meaning to the title "Teach Yourself..." because this book sure does not do it.
Rating:
Summary: Needs more patience for understanding the concepts
Review: I learnt most of the visual languages thru "Sams Teach yourself" editions. Most of the authors go from basic to advanced , in this book i dont know where is the head and tail.All the examples are in app wizard dialog based and one in SDI and one in MDI. i stopped reading the book because of hard presentations. The author talks one concept and suddenly finishes the chapter without completing it. Finally the book needs more changes in the description part atlesast in the next edition.
Rating:
Summary: Need help -
Review: Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6 in 21 days. I would admit that C++ is an intense subject with many strange inconsistancies. It is a topic that many would find hard to enclose in one book. This book is most useful for those who know Borland C++ inside and out. This book is not as helpful for a beginner (such as myself). What gets me through is the fact that I understand the basic programming principles and have some experience in many other programs. The Good: It is set up fairly well with the easier chapters near the front and the more intense chapters at the back. The book is laid out like most of the SAMS books and I consider that a good thing. The exerices although mainly graphical in nature seem to have purpose. The Bad: There are skipped steps hidden throughout the book. The missing bits cause problems. Also I had compiled programs do unexplained things. After Redoing the exercise I found out that I had some ">>" pointing this way "<<". From Day 1 to 11 I was able to figure out what went wrong (By redoing the entire exercise). I had Chapter 12 - 3/4s done until I ran into an error without any help. From there a few more errors occured and there are a few chapters that I can not complete. That concludes my review. I am stuck in this book. What would have helped would have been a web site that displays the corrections made to the chapters. Also some hints to program it better (there is always a way to program better). If anyone has any hints or clues please email me at pharvey@nonline.net The first bug I am interested in is on Page 267 Listing 12.7. Line 13: pDoc->SetWidth(nIndex); In General terms (not the exact error message): CDay10Doc does not have a SetWidth parameter. There is not a SetWidth function in CDay10Doc.cpp.
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